Physicists in the US and Germany model control of light's quantum states via nonlinear optics

An international team of physicists from the US and Germany has shown in calculations that nonlinear optical processes can change the quantum states of light without special materials with extremely strong photon interaction mk.ruМК (наука)mk.ruOpen source ↗. Specialists from Saint Louis University, the Max Born Institute and Humboldt University of Berlin took part in the work. The paper was published in Science Advances, as reported by МК (наука).

What was simulated

The authors ran computer simulations of single photons and states made of two photons. They studied how these states propagate together with a powerful classical light field and respond to nonlinear optical effects. The calculations showed that under certain conditions the quantum system moves into states whose characteristics are described by specific statistical distributions.

Possible uses and limits

According to the authors, the results could help reproduce complex quantum processes in comparatively accessible optical systems. In their view, of particular interest is studying how quantum systems approach equilibrium and how particle interaction affects their collective behavior. The approach may also be applied in research on quantum thermodynamics.

So far the conclusions rest on theoretical calculations and numerical experiments. The researchers have not presented a practical device that uses the proposed approach.